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College basketball: No. 25 FGCU women upset at UNF

The Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball team broke into the USA Today Top 25 earlier this week. And the fact that both the FGCU women and men were the only teams unbeaten in a conference in Division I made some national news.

College basketball: No. 25 FGCU women upset at UNF

The Florida Gulf Coast University women's basketball team broke into the USA Today Top 25 earlier this week. And the fact that both the FGCU women and men were the only teams unbeaten in a conference in Division I made some national news.

Both the ranking and that last statement ended in Jacksonville on Thursday night.

North Florida made 8 of 11 3-pointers and shot 51 percent from the field to upset the No. 25 Eagles, 75-73, to end their 10-game winning streak and give them just their fourth Atlantic Sun loss in 103 games.

"UNF played a fantastic game," FGCU head coach Karl Smesko said. "We couldn't guard their posts and when we tried to help, they knocked down threes."

FGCU played without leading rebounder Ty Adderly, who was hit in the chin during the Eagles' last game against Jacksonville on Saturday. The Ospreys outrebounded FGCU, 36-26, in Adderly's absence.

Rosemarie Julien of FGCU gets tangled up with Shakayla Nevitt of Jacksonville as they battle for a rebound during the game at Alico Arena Saturday, January 27, 2018.
Darron R. Silva/Special to the Naples Daily News

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FGCU's Erica Nelson hit a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 61-56 lead with 6:53 left, but the Ospreys went on a 7-0 run to take the lead on Ty Purifoy's 3-pointer with 5:09 to go. Tesh Hanson scored to make it a 9-0 run and three-point lead, but Nelson made two free throws and China Dow made a layup to tie it at 65-all with 3:20 left.

Nelson later gave FGCU the lead at 68-67 with two more free throws with 1:57 remaining, but Keonna Farmer, who had a game-high 28 points, put the Ospreys ahead for good with a layup, and Ty Purifoy added another with 1:23 to go. Nelson missed a layup and FGCU was forced to foul. Maiya Rumph made two free throws with 18 seconds left for a five-point lead.

Rosemarie Julien's 3-pointer brought the Eagles within two with nine seconds left, but Elli Bartley made two free throws with five seconds left to seal it, making Lisa Zderadicka's layup at the buzzer meaningless.

Julien had 22 points, and Nelson added 16.

CLOSE

The Eagles faced a very physical team Saturday. (Video by Dana Caldwell/Naples Daily News)
By Dana Caldwell

FGCU (20-4, 6-1 ASUN) had beaten the Ospreys (10-12, 3-4 ASUN) 17 times in a row.
When the rankings came out Tuesday, Smesko was a little hesitant whether he'd address the ranking with his team.

"I don't know that I'll bring it up," Smesko said Tuesday. "I'm sure they're aware of it. Some will be really excited about it.

"But it doesn't change what we have to be able to do this week. Hopefully we can prepare as normal and try to give our best effort."

FGCU was ranked for the first time since April 6, 2015. Now the Eagles have to get ready to play at Jacksonville, which they beat by five at home a week ago, on Saturday.